I have a 2008 v50 2.4i 2800 miles. I thought I'd post this here as well as the v50 area since the 2.4i engine is the same...

Once my engine is warm and stopped while in drive, the engine shakes/vibrates. In other words, I'm at a stoplight, transmission is in drive - the steering wheel vibrates in my hands noticeably (like an older car with 100k miles on it would). it doesn't shake violently, but to the point that coins in compartments will jingle.

I went to the dealership today for an oil change and had them look at it. the tech told me it was totally normal b/c the 2.4i engine basically "floats" under the hood (there is no buffer between the engine and the frame of the car) and that all the s40's feel like this too.

I then asked to drive a 2008 2.4i s40 or v50 to confirm this, and the service guy gave me the run around ("we dont have any s40 or v50 loaners for you to drive").

instead of raising hell, i decided to do some research on this issue and then to visit another volvo dealership, drive an s40 to see if this is an actual issue.

has anyone experienced this? is this normal? should i stop worrying about this and chalk this up as "functions as designed"?

also, my RPM is steady at 750 in drive (when it rattles) and in neutral (when the rattling stops)

thanks

Any other symptom? Like high gas consumption.
So you say that the rattling stops in neutral?

I don't feel ANY vibration on the car when IDLE or even when MOVE..... This is not right... When exactly do you feel the vibs?

No other symptoms - my gas consumption is pretty normal - im almost 100% city driving so I get right around 20 mpg.

yeah, the rattling stops when i put it in neutral - in older cars i've experienced this only b/c putting the car in neutral raises the RPM. however, in mine the rpm is steady at 750.

I feel the vibration (through the steering wheel) whenever my automatic transmission is in drive or in reverse and the car is stopped. the vibration is not terrible, but definitely noticeable and annoying. the dash board vibrates as well. The only thing I've found online is that some of the older s40s had faulty engine mounts...

btw - When I'm driving car feels great.

Going back to your original problem description its “normal” that the engine shakes/vibrates, what is not normal is to feeling it on the steering wheel.

Then I bet its an engine mount as you said, they have a rubber piece to absorb vibrations, this acts as the buffer between the engine and the frame of the car, even the steering wheel column have a system (joints) to absorb vibrations.

Mine is a 06 S40 and the engine runs very quiet, sometimes is hard to hear or feel that is running.
On older cars we used to do a quick diagnosis by putting the transmission in drive with the handbrake all the way up and/or pressing the break pedal all the way down, with the engine running pressing the accelerator a bit while someone checks if the engine seems to be too loose, putting special attention to the engine mounts on how the react to this.

I own a 2005 S40, I wouldn't say the engine is quiet, but the noise/vibrating of the engine is not as loud nor does it vibrate as much as you mentioned.

I do get a rattling noise as well, I question how "normal" the rattling I hear is as well?? I wonder how quiet others S40's are.

I had trouble with a loud vibration (especially in the winter months) and discovered that it is coming from the air breather housing. I finally tie wrapped the duct that goes into the air filter housing to the dipstick rod/housing and the vibration totally went away.

MY07 2.4i 14k miles

I never feel it on my steering column, however I can see my gps windshield mount vibrate when idling at a red light.

AMRivlin: i actually didnt notice it on my steering column at first... i actually heard a rattle in idle that turned out to be the visor vibrating against the roof of the car. only after that, did i even realize that the steering wheel was vibrating too.

i guess i'm used to my steering shaking a bit since my old galant did it (but that car had 80k on it)

strangely enough though, my windshield mounted gps unit doesnt seem like its vibrating...

I will follow up here after my mechanic looks at the car